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Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing yet another abuse lawsuit, this time filed by a participant on MTV’s Making the Band and longtime member of his band who says he harassed and assaulted her during “years of inhumane working conditions.”
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Dawn Richard says the embattled hip hop mogul “manipulated” her into thinking that “abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.”
Richard claims she witnessed Combs abuse his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura on multiple occasions – and that recent lawsuits from Ventura and others sparked her to speak out.
“As more women courageously come forward, plaintiff has been empowered by this collective strength and now adds her voice to the growing chorus of victims bravely sharing their harrowing stories,” lawyers for Richard write. “Together, they seek justice and stand in solidarity, as the latest victims of the #Me Too movement in the music industry.”
Once one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Diddy has been hit with at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse over the past year, including claims by Ventura that were later followed by a video showing him assaulting her. The hip-hop mogul is also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.
Though the rapper has denied the legal allegations against him, he issued an apology in May over his conduct captured on the video of the Ventura attack: “My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.”
In her new lawsuit, Richard says she first met Combs after she was selected for season 3 of Making The Band, a popular MTV reality show in the early 2000s featuring aspiring artists working under the tutelage of Combs.
She was eventually chosen as a winner of that season and joined the Diddy-run girl group Danity Kane, which released albums two albums in the late 2000s. When the band broke up in 2009, Richard says she transitioned into a member of another band called Diddy – Dirty Money.
During each stop in the Diddy universe, Richard says she was subjected to harmful behavior. While filming the TV show, she says Combs “deprived Ms. Richard and her Danity Kane bandmates of basic needs such as adequate food and sleep.” As a member of Dirty Money, he says the mogul repeatedly harassed and assaulted her, including groping her during fitting sessions.
Richard also claims to have witnessed illegal behavior toward others, including a 2009 party in Atlanta after the Soul Train Awards in which she says she was Combs “arranged for dozens of young women and girls — some of whom appeared to be underage – to be transported to the party.”
“Many of them appeared lethargic or passed out while Mr. Combs and his guests performed sexual acts on them,” Richard’s lawyers write. “Ms. Richard felt shocked and horrified at the sight of Mr. Combs and his guests violating incapacitated young women.”
She also claims to have seen specific acts of abuse toward Combs’ ex-partners. In one, she says she witnessed his ex-wife, Kim Porter, leaving his studio “in tears with visible facial injuries including a lacerated lip.” On “numerous” other occasions, Richard says she saw Combs abuse “brutally beat” Ventura.
“His persistent abuse included choking and strangling Ms. Ventura, striking her with his hands and with objects, slapping her, punching her, and throwing items at her, including a scalding hot pan,” attorneys for Richards write.
Ventura sued Combs over similar allegations in November, but the pair reached a settlement to end the lawsuit just days later.
In technical terms, Richard is accusing Combs of a slew of specific forms of wrongdoing, including violating New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act and California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, as well as various state and federal workplace protections against sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. She’s also accusing him of assault, sexual battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit also features intellectual property claims, including that Diddy infringed copyrights to her music.
A representative for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment.
When Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Tuesday (Sept. 10), the singer said she was spurred to action by her fears about artificial intelligence — namely, an incident last month in which Donald Trump posted AI-generated images that falsely claimed the superstar’s support.
Swift’s endorsement, which landed on Instagram just minutes after the conclusion of the Harris-Trump debate, called the Democratic nominee a “steady-handed, gifted leader” who “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” But before those reasons, she pointed first to last month’s deepfake debacle.
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“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift wrote. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Her fears are well-founded, as Swift has been one most prominent victims of AI deepfakes. At the start of 2024, a flood of fake, sexually explicit images of Swift were posted to the social media site X (formerly Twitter). Some were viewed millions of times before they were removed.
At the time, Woodrow Hartzog, a professor at Boston University School of Law who studies privacy and technology law, told Billboard that the Swift deepfakes highlighted a “particularly toxic cocktail” that was bubbling up on social media in 2024: “It’s an existing problem, mixed with these new generative AI tools and a broader backslide in industry commitments to trust and safety.”
Then last month, Trump posted several AI-generated images to social media falsely suggesting Swift had endorsed him. Several showed women in t-shirts with the slogan “Swifties for Trump”; another showed Swift herself, dressed up as Uncle Sam alongside the message, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” Trump himself responded to the false endorsement: “I accept!”
At the time, experts told Billboard that Swift likely had grounds to file a lawsuit over Trump’s phony endorsement by citing her right of publicity — the legal power to control how your name, image and likeness are used by others.
But they also predicted — accurately, it turns out — that the star was better off fighting Trump’s fake endorsement with a legitimate endorsement of her own, broadcast across social media to her millions of die-hard fans: “I think Swift probably has more effective political rather than legal recourse here.”
Whether or not Swift’s endorsement has its intended effect, the next president will have a chance to shape federal policy on AI and deepfakes. Numerous bills aimed at regulating the cutting-edge tech are pending before Congress, including one that would create a federal right of publicity that would allow people like Swift to more easily sue over the unauthorized use of their likeness.
Venezuelan singer/songwriter and producer NOREH has signed a record deal with 5020 Records, Billboard Español can exclusively announce Wednesday (Sep. 11).
“We are extremely pleased to welcome NOREH as a new member of the 5020 Records family,” Rafa Arcaute, president of 5020 Records, says in a press release. “His innovative approach to music and his ability to connect with audiences on a deep level make him the perfect addition to our roster of artists. We are excited about the opportunity to support his artistic development and help him achieve even greater success.”
Featured in our monthly column for emerging artists On the Radar Latin last February, when he played his first concert in the United States, NOREH has been rising in the Latin music scene since 2020, when he debuted as an independent artist with the album Asocial. This was followed by the live album Nada Íntimo (2021) and Mucho TXT (2023), an eclectic LP that included urban music, ballads, bolero, salsa and bossa nova.
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His latest release is BALADAS TATUADAS VOL. 1, a deeply personal EP launched in March this year, in which he reflects on the ups and downs of his life while exploring themes of melancholy.
“NOREH represents 5020’s artistic vision, anchored in originality, versatility and creative honesty. We couldn’t be prouder to welcome him to the family,” says Bruno Duarte, co-president of 5020 Records.
Adds NOREH: “Being part of 5020 is exciting because, like me, they believe in daring songs with soul […] I hope to live up to the other artists in the roster; I am Venezuelan and I bring with me my people, who have brought me here, and I am sure that we will all be a great team.”
The terms of the contract were not specified.
The artist, who has collaborated with established names like Jay Wheeler, Nacho, CNCO, and Servando & Florentino, is currently in the midst of his Baladas Tatuadas Tour, which has taken him through his native Venezuela, parts of the U.S., Spain and South America.
The recorded music market in Europe is at risk of falling behind other global regions unless regulators enforce tougher protections for artists, creators and rightsholders, according to a new report from international labels trade body IFPI.
In Europe, music sales grew to over $8 billion in 2023, representing more than a quarter of global revenues (28.1%) and maintaining the continent’s long-held status as the second largest region in the world for recorded music sales behind the U.S. and Canada, according to IFPI data.
Europe’s prominent position is coming under threat, however, from other music markets that are growing at faster rates, states IFPI’s first-ever report focused specifically on recorded music in the European Union, published Tuesday (Sept. 10).
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Last year, music sales among the 27 members of the European Union trading block — which the U.K. exited in 2020 — grew by 8.7% to 5.2 billion euros ($5.7 billion), says IFPI. While that places the EU below only the U.S. in total revenue terms, several other international markets are significantly outpacing its growth rate thanks to the widespread global adoption of music streaming services.
Examples cited by IFPI include China, which grew music sales by more than 25% to 1.3 billion euro ($1.4 billion) in 2023; Sub-Saharan Africa, up 25% to 85 million euros ($93 million); Mexico, up 18% to 454 million euros ($500 million); and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which climbed 14% to 102 million euro ($112 million).
Although all of those territories are developing from far lower bases than mature EU markets such as France and Germany — and all have some way to go before they come close to surpassing EU music sales — IFPI said their rapid growth represents “warning signs” that the region is facing strong competition from its global competitors. Notably, some of those fast-growing music markets were virtually non-existent just over a decade ago.
The report, which is titled “Music in the EU: A Global Opportunity,” comes three months after European Parliament elections and ahead of the unveiling of the new European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, which is expected to take place later this month.
The new cohort of Brussels politicians will be responsible for monitoring and enforcing already passed EU legislation such as the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act and the AI Act, which all impact the music business to varying degrees, in some instances significantly.
“The EU is a vitally important place for music,” said IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley in a statement. “However, the data in this report shows us that other parts of the world are developing and growing rapidly and the EU risks falling behind.”
To ensure that the EU’s music market stays competitive, Oakley called on European policymakers to provide “legal certainty and protection for music rightsholders, supporting the development of responsible and ethical AI and creating a competitive playing field on which today’s dynamic music sector can evolve.”
“Today, European music faces great risk but also great opportunity,” Oakley continued. “How policymakers address these issues will help determine its future.”
An accompanying press release from IFPI said its research sets out how policymakers can help “secure a positive future for music at what is a pivotal time for music in Europe” amidst rising global competition.The report notes that when adjusted for inflation, recorded music revenue in the EU last year was only 61% of where they were in 2001, the music industry’s revenue peak.
Specific areas in which IFPI says policymakers can support creators and rightsholders include effective implementation of the EU’s AI Act, which passed earlier this year, and upholding existing EU copyright laws preventing the use of copyright-protected works and music from being used for training AI systems without prior consent. AI developers must also maintain and provide records of the materials used in training and developing generative AI models that enable rightsholders to exercise and enforce their rights, says IFPI.
When it comes to individual EU markets, the report highlights the continued strong performance of domestic acts in their home countries. In the 22 EU markets where IFPI collects yearly chart data, on average, 60% of the Top 10s were tracks by domestic artists in 2023, compared to only 47% in non-EU markets.
EU markets fared less well in terms of top 10 global chart exports, which were once again dominated by U.S. artists like Miley Cyrus, SZA and Taylor Swift last year, though Latin and Central American artists, most notably from Columbia and Puerto Rico, also performed well.
SiriusXM’s stock rose 2.6% on Tuesday (Sept. 10), the first full day of trading since it merged with Liberty Media’s tracking stock to create a single, streamlined public stock. SiriusXM said last December that it would merge its stock with Liberty SiriusXM Holdings to simplify and eliminate confusion around its multiple share classes and create […]
Concord Records and Fantasy Records have merged, their parent company Concord Label Group announced Tuesday (Sept. 10). The combined label will be called Concord Records.
The label will be headed up by co-presidents Margi Cheske, who was formerly president of Fantasy Records, and Mark Williams, who previously served as interim president of both Concord Records and Rounder Records (now led by Stephanie Hudacek). Both are based in L.A. and report to Concord Label Group CEO Tom Becci.
While leading Fantasy Records, Cheske built a roster that includes Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Allison Russell, James Taylor, Seether, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Lake Street Dive, Valerie June, Diiv, Lucius, LS Dunes, Taking Back Sunday, Marcus King Band, Grace Potter, Devon Gilfillian and Tanya Tucker. Prior to that, she was senior vp of marketing at Concord.
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In his prior role as interim president at both Concord and Rounder Records, Williams shepherded the release of music by artists including Sierra Ferrell, Billy Strings and The Revivalists and signed acts including Thirty Seconds To Mars, John Vincent III, Bella White, Amythyst Kiah, Daffo, Nitefire, Luke Tyler Shelton and Spacey Jane.
Cheske and Williams met while both were working at Virgin Records, where Cheske was The Smashing Pumpkins’ product manager and Williams was in A&R. Williams boasts a 44-year history in the business and previously founded Outpost Recordings before joining Interscope in 2001 and Columbia in 2010.
The new Concord label’s roster includes esperanza spalding, Lindsey Sterling, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Taking Back Sunday, Seether, The Offspring and Thirty Seconds To Mars, along with emerging acts like Russell, Vincent and Matt Berninger.
Along with the announcement comes the reveal of a new Concord Records logo.
“In a music landscape where radical change has become the norm, it is vital that labels position themselves to manage complex challenges deftly,” said Becci in a statement. “This merger allows Concord to best utilize our global platform while maintaining the boutique level of service artists have come to expect. I know Mark and Margi share this notion, and their combined resources, alongside their complementary skill sets, will be a real benefit to the artists we serve.”
Added Williams, “Both Concord and Fantasy Records have always pursued artists with a unique vision and story to tell; the combined Concord Records will have an environment where those creative visions will be nurtured and supported.”
“This merger will allow us to better maximize our resources in service of those visions,” said Cheske. “Ultimately, this means a much more global, interconnected approach—allowing us, in concert with our incredible roster of artists, to bring their music to audiences around the world.”
The merger of the Fantasy and Concord labels is just the latest among several recent changes at the label group. Becci, who joined as CEO in August 2023, has previously restructured parts of the company, including by naming Hudacek president at Rounder Records and making changes to executive leadership in operations, marketing, and data analysis and streaming.
In a previous interview with Billboard, Becci alluded to the merger by calling the appointments of Cheske and Williams “a formidable frontline duo that can deliver on both new and developing artists,” adding, “They were swimming in the same pond, and I think together they’re going to own the pond.”
Johnson & Johnson is facing a lawsuit that accuses the pharma giant of “rampant infringement” of copyrighted instrumental music in YouTube and Facebook videos.
In a complaint filed last week in Los Angeles federal court, Associated Production Music (APM) claims that J&J released nearly 80 different internet videos featuring unlicensed “production music” — an industry term for stock tracks created for use in videos, podcasts and other content.
“At no point did defendant ever obtain APM’s license, authorization, or consent to synchronize the Recordings with the Videos,” the company’s lawyers write. “Moreover, despite being repeatedly contacted by APM regarding Defendant’s unlicensed uses of the Recordings, Defendant has refused to obtain proper licenses or admit wrongdoing.”
APM, a joint venture of Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing, describes itself as the top purveyor of production music in the country, controlling huge libraries of songs that have appeared in TV shows (Stranger Things, Game of Thrones and Spongebob Squarepants), movies (Lady Bird, The Shape of Water and The Big Sick) and video games (Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and MLB: The Show). One particularly notable APM song is “Heavy Action,” the theme to Monday Night Football.
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Earlier this year, APM says it discovered that J&J had been using the company’s songs without permission. The lawsuit lists out 79 different videos featuring 30 different APM songs, like a YouTube video posted by J&J in May 2021 called “Nurse Leaders Disrupting Healthcare.” The video, which features an upbeat instrumental track behind narration, allegedly used an APM track called “Driving Inspiration” without securing a license.
The lawsuit is light on details, and it’s unclear how a sophisticated company came to release dozens of videos without securing licenses for the music. A representative for J&J did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations.
Though the songs in question are hardly Hot 100 hits, intentionally using them without a license would still be a costly decision for J&J. Under federal copyright law, a judge can award as much as $150,000 per song infringed if a defendant acted willfully — nearly $12 million for all the songs involved.
Following the recent announcement that DJ revenue sharing platform Aslice is closing, Richie Hawtin has shared his thoughts on the news.
In a 10-minute statement posted to YouTube and social media, the pioneering techno producer expressed his disappointment that many big-name DJs did not participate in Aslice, a donation-based platform launched by DJ Zak Khutoretsky in 2022 that allowed DJs to voluntarily share their set playlists and contribute part of their performance fee to the artists whose music they played.
“The closing of Aslice is a huge disappointment,” Hawtin says. “Perhaps the biggest disappointment that I felt in our community, our scene since I’ve been part of it.”
Last week, the company announced it was closing and released a lengthy report that cited reasons including industry skepticism (“despite outreach to over 2,000 professional DJs, many remained hesitant,” the report says), difficulties the platform faced in gaining widespread adoption, the company’s difficulty in achieving financial sustainability, mixed engagement among DJs, and limited adoption by the leading and most well-played DJs.
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The report notes that “only 4.7% (56) of the top 1,199 DJs on Resident Advisor [with more than five upcoming performances] participated in Aslice.”
Hawtin has a sharp critique for these non-participating DJs, writing in his Instagram caption that “Aslice was working, and the only problem was that not enough DJs, especially the successful ones, agreed to sign up and share back into the music eco-system that they have built their careers on. Aslice did not fail, the famous, most followed DJ’s of our scene failed us all.”
With its closing announcement, the Aslice team said that since launching, they’ve paid out $422,696 to musicians with money from DJs who participated in the platform. They add that all participating artists with remaining balances will be paid out by the end of 2024.
Hawtin shared that since 2021, he has personally paid out €88,950 (roughly $116,268) to the producers whose music he played during his sets, at the expense of what averaged out to be roughly $800 per gig.
Noting that he wasn’t an investor in Aslice, Hawtin explained that it “was a platform that was built to rebalance the economic inequalities that are a big part of our scene. The economic inequalities between how much a DJ or musician and a producer gets paid for the music they make and the money that goes into the pocket of us DJs when we perform playing other people’s music.”
Hawtin said that while most bands perform their own music and earn commensurate royalties, “in our own beautiful scene where we have the largest paid performers playing other people’s music, that system doesn’t work. And it’s only gotten worse as we moved into digital distribution and streaming.”
He added that he’s seen many talented producers stop making music because they couldn’t support themselves and their families by doing it, even though their music might have been getting played by famous DJs in their sets. He says the platform was “a way to recognize the musicians and support the actual foundation of our whole scene. Without music, there’s no DJs.”
Hear Hawtin’s complete statement below.
The Aslice report notes that the platform was an especially vital tool in the electronic music world, given that PROs’ “failure to support the electronic music scene is evident in several key areas,” including, the report says, their technological stagnation, a lack of proactive outreach and community building, complex registration processes, an inability to track unreleased music, outdated distribution models, low accuracy rates, and a lack of retroactive payments for producers who weren’t registered when their music was played.
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Universal Music Group is revving up its Use Your Voice voter education campaign to mobilize eligible voters ahead of election day on Nov. 5. This year’s efforts range from a digital content series outlining important issues, an outreach program targeting HBCU’s and a get-out-the-vote initiative aimed at driving voting registration — and then ensuring people can get to the polls.
Use Your Voice, which launched its first campaign in 2020, is supported by three UMG entities: All Together Now Foundation, the Task Force for Meaningful Change and °1824, the company’s creative marketing division. For this election season, UYV will provide information and resources to help power the work of partners including the ACLU, BallotReady, HeadCount, the NAACP, National Coalition of Black Civic Participation, the National Council for Negro Women (NCNW), the Voto Latino Foundation, When We All Vote and Xceleader.
Susan Mazo, evp and chief impact officer of UMG, said that “since we started the program in 2020, it has helped tens of thousands of voters get to the polls and vote with confidence. This year, it will do so again through the work of our colleagues, our passionate artists, songwriters and labels, and our incredible voter resource partner organizations.”
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One such partner, HeadCount, will work alongside UMG for Use Your Voice and Vote About It, a short-form digital content series taking a much-need look at issues that voters may see on their local ballots. The initiative includes a voter hub with information, resources and digital tools, plus there’s a corresponding tote bag sold by Social Goods benefiting HeadCount. UMG is also supporting HeadCount’s Vote HBCU ‘Say It Louder’ Tour of 10 campuses with the goal of registering more than 10,000 students to vote. The program, built in partnership with Xceleader, and will collaborate with UMG to amplify messaging around National Voter Registration Day, coming up on Sept 17.
This year, HeadCount has also partnered with artists from UMG’s labels including AJR, Ariana Grande, Barenaked Ladies, Billie Eilish, Clairo, Chappell Roan, Chelsea Cutler, Em Beihold, Glass Animals, Gracie Abrams, Hootie & the Blowfish, Maggie Rogers, Mt. Joy, Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo, Rapsody and Remi Wolf, among others.
“As we head into this pivotal election, our partnership with Universal Music Group through the ‘Use Your Voice’ campaign is about more than just registering voters,” said HeadCount executive director Lucille Wenegieme. “Together, we’re making sure that every voice is not just heard, but impossible to ignore. At HeadCount, we partner with organizations that see the value of a multi-pronged approach to civic engagement to ensure we are reaching as many voters as possible – this is no different. We are so grateful for UMG’s strategic support during this election cycle. Together, we’re inspiring a new generation to actively participate in shaping their future.”
Additionally, UMG’s °1824 is producing a digital content series called By the Numbers targeting young people and possible first-time voters to check their registration status and inform them on their potential impact on election results. BallotReady and UYV are also jamming on a series of co-branded assets urging users to make a fully-informed voting plan.
UMG’s Task Force for Meaningful Change unveiled its Pull Up to the Polls initiative providing resources including a plan to provide 15,000 ride share codes to voters through NAACP, NCNW and When We All Vote. TFMC is also working with Voto Latino Foundation with the goal of registering over 7,200 eligible voters, and will work with Black Voters Matter, the National Coalition of Black Civic Engagement/Black Women’s Roundtable and others to mobilize and educate voters ahead of Nov. 5.
“The NAACP is proud to work with UMG in ensuring that democracy works, for everybody. Black voices matter, and we know that when our communities Pull up to the Polls, we’re heard,” said Dominik Whitehead, NAACP svp of campaigns and mobilization. “That’s why partnerships like these are so important in bringing the resources and tools necessary to ensure that every vote is counted, and every voice is heard. Let’s make this an election to remember!”
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Prosecutors file a first-of-its-kind criminal case against an alleged streaming fraudster who made $10 million with fake songs; the White Stripes file a copyright case against Donald Trump over use of their music; Spotify wins a strongly-worded ruling dismissing a long-running lawsuit filed by Eminem’s publisher; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Streaming Fraud Finally Goes To Court
When Manhattan federal prosecutors indicted a North Carolina musician named Michael Smith last week, accusing him of stealing $10 million in streaming royalties as part of a “brazen fraud scheme,” they told a story that much of the music industry already knew. Streaming fraud – artificially boosting traffic for certain songs – has been a growing problem for years. One study found that 1% to 3% of plays in France in 2021 were fraudulent; a 2022 report by fraud-detection service Beatdapp estimated that more than 10% of global streams were fake. And this isn’t the scam from “Office Space,” stealing fractions of a penny from a faceless tech giant. Because royalties are calculated as a percentage of a finite pie, every phony stream represents real money being diverted away from music that consumers actually played and the artists who created it. In the first-of-its-kind indictment, the feds say Smith created thousands of fake songs, then used an army of bots to play them billions of times on Spotify and other streamers. At one point, Smith estimated that he could play his songs 661,440 times each day, raking in as much as $1.2 million per year. Prosecutors say Smith’s plot was aided by artificial intelligence – another growing problem for the industry. When he couldn’t create enough fake tracks to make the scam work, Smith allegedly partnered with an unnamed executive at an A.I. music company to produce grist for his mill, funneling money back in the form of percentage cuts. For more details go read Kristin Robinson’s stories – on the filing of the charges, and on an AI company with strong ties to the accused fraudster.
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Other top stories this week…
“SUES FASCISTS” – The White Stripes filed a copyright lawsuit against Donald Trump for using their iconic “Seven Nation Army” in a social media post, arguing that any association with the president was “offensive” because they “vehemently oppose” his policies and his bid for another term in the White House. In announcing the case, Jack White included a screenshot of the complaint with the caption “this machine sues fascists” – an allusion to Woody Guthrie’s famous use of a sticker reading “this machine kills fascists” on his guitar during World War II. The White Stripes are the latest in a long list of musical artists to threaten or take legal action against Trump over his use of music. LOSE YOUR CASE – Spotify defeated a long-running lawsuit filed by Eminem’s publisher, Eight Mile Style, that claimed the rapper’s music had been streamed illegally “billions” of times on the platform. Rather than order Spotify to pay, the judge sharply criticized Eight Mile for suing in the first place, ruling that the company had effectively manufactured the lawsuit in an effort to win legal damages. “Eight Mile Style was not a hapless victim,” the judge wrote. DIDDY DAMAGES – A Michigan inmate named Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith won a $100 million default judgment against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a sexual assault lawsuit — an eye-popping figure that was handed down after the rapper did not show up in court or file any formal response to the case. Following the ruling, Combs’ lawyers strongly denied that the rapper was served with the lawsuit and said he “looks forward to having this judgment swiftly dismissed.” GUESS WHO TRUCE – The members of classic rock band The Guess Who settled a bitter trademark lawsuit in which two bandmates (Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings) referred to a recent iteration of the group run by two others (Jim Kale and Garry Peterson) as nothing more than a “cover band.” COPYRIGHT CLAPBACK – Verizon fired back at a lawsuit filed by Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment over allegations of “staggering” piracy on its network. The labels claim Verizon “buried its head in the sand” and enabled illegal filesharing, but in a motion to dismiss, the telecom giant blasted the “legally deficient” premise of the case: “When people do bad things online, their internet service providers are not typically the ones to blame. This lawsuit claims otherwise.”